Mermaids justification for supplying breast binders to kids

[MarmaladeFatkins]

they in a statement on their website regarding supplying binders;

Binders
Some trans masculine, non-binary and gender diverse people experience bodily dysphoria, as a result of their chest, and binding, for some, helps alleviate that distress. Mermaids takes a harm reduction position with the understanding that providing a young person with a binder and comprehensive safety guidelines from an experienced member of staff is preferable to the likely alternative of unsafe practices and/or continued or increasing dysphoria. The risk is considered by Mermaids staff within the context of our safeguarding framework. More on binder safety can be found here.

mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/statement-in-response-to-a-telegraph-article-published-sunday-25-september/

HOWEVER I am almost sure that I have seen research that shows there are actually more harmful effects experiences when wearing commercial binders, compared with home made solutions? is this the case?

Something like 97% of females in their 20s that had used them had damage?

They created the damn problem to justify the CEO's actions on her child.

They are absolute monsters.

'Experienced member of staff'? What's that then? An adult woman who binds her breasts? Not anyone with medical knowledge as you've been very clear you don't have any. So no one who actually knows anything about developing teenage breast tissue then.

Charity my arse.

Was she ever investigated by the police for the (moral at the very least) crime she committed?

Period app links to the article helloclue.com/articles/cycle-a-z/chest-binding-tips-and-tricks-for-trans-men-nonbinary-and-genderfluid
Article
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27300085/

You'd think...

so, it's this study. I don't know if I am understanding the sentence correctly

'Compression methods associated with symptoms were commercial binders (20/28), elastic bandages (14/28) and duct tape or plastic wrap (13/28).'

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691058.2016.1191675

is this saying that for commercial binders 20 out of the 28 negative outcomes were recorded. but for duct tape or plastic wrap 13 of the 28 negative outcomes were recorded??

I must be misunderstanding?

but if I'm correct, then the companies producing commercial binders and organisations supplying them are just doing it for profit, unquestionably

I mean mermaids don't sell them/make a profit, so they are supplying them in ignorance??

It's the long con to get people to donate to them.

Was she ever investigated by the police for the (moral at the very least) crime she committed?

In general you cannot be prosecuting for doing something that would be illegal in the UK but legal where you do it.

Special laws had to be written carefully for "taking child overseas for FGM". I'm not sure that was in force at the time it happened, and I imagine it was drafted too specifically to cover castration & penile inversion.

(Thailand changed there laws to up their age limit since, apparently. Don't know if the attention of Susie Green's case affected that).

“The risk is considered by Mermaids staff within the context of our safeguarding framework.”

Given the current issues regarding Mermaids staff and safeguarding I’m inclined to ignore the whole statement.

From a liability point of view I don't think that achieves much in the real world.

That's the argument drug dealers use isn't it? Best buy it from me cos I've not cut it with anything harmful. 🙄

please can people read the research paper though and tell me if I understood it correctly

India Willoughby is on Twitter arguing they're only sports bras anyway.

I just can't understand why anyone gives them anything like benefit of the doubt when they constantly misrepresent and dodge facts

India Willoughby was never a girl/never had tits, what would he know??

That's how I read it. You need the previous sentence:

Over 97% reported at least one of 28 negative outcomes attributed to binding. Frequency (days/week) was consistently associated with negative outcomes (22/28 outcomes). Compression methods associated with symptoms were commercial binders (20/28), elastic bandages (14/28) and duct tape or plastic wrap (13/28).

So commercial binders led to women reporting more negative outcomes than using other methods to bind their breasts.

thank you @Clymene , that is how I understood it

so there is no 'harm reduction' justification AT ALL for Mermaids to supply commercial binders. because the kids will experience MORE negative outcomes, than if they used a home made solution.

I hope the Charity's commission know this

it costs £35 to read the full article, frustratingly

if mermaids wanted to reduce harm, they would recommend elastic bandages

India Willoughby is on Twitter arguing they're only sports bras anyway.

So supply correctly fitting sports bras. (I'd seriously be in favour of schools being able to do this for girls whose families are unable to buy them, a bra suitable for eg a cross country run or aerobics isn't cheap.)

I wonder if commercial binders are easier to use and apply solo so lead to much more frequent usage?

Yes, I think your understanding is correct. From the Methods section of the paper:

"A comprehensive search strategy that assessed peer-reviewed literature and information from health clinics, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organisations and online community resources was used to develop a list of 28 health outcomes potentially associated with binding."

The authors compiled a list of 28 known negative outcomes of binding, and made a questionnaire asking whether study participants had experienced these negative outcomes. The proportions out of 28 given in the Results for each method of binding refer to how many of these 28 outcomes at least one participant reported experiencing as a consequence of using that method. Therefore the figures show that commercial binders are associated with a broader range of complications compared to DIY methods.

Not enough laugh emojis. Are mermaids claiming they have a safeguarding network now?

Or send girls a roll of cling film

exactly @Clymene